This year's election marks McAuliffe's second bid for the governorship in Virginia; he ran for the office in 2009, finishing a distant second in the Democratic primary behind Creigh Deeds, who lost to McDonnell in the general election.[2]

McAuliffe's campaign website emphasizes three types of jobs he would promote if elected. He lists public education, efficient transportation and energy jobs as priority areas.[3]

A successful businessman and active member of his party on both the state and national level, McAuliffe served as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005. He was also co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.[4]

In 2009, McAuliffe was a defendant in the lawsuit, Nader v. McAuliffe, in which Nader alleged that McAuliffe and others conspired to deny Nader ballot access in his 2004 presidential bid. The court later rejected the allegations and dismissed the case.[5]

Biography

McAuliffe is the son of World War II U.S. Army Captain Jack McAuliffe and Millie McAuliffe, and the youngest of four brothers. A Syracuse, New York, native, he was brought up in a working-class environment and began a business paving driveways for nearby homes and businesses at age 14 to help fund his college education. After graduating from high school, McAuliffe, a lifelong Catholic, earned his bachelor's degree from Catholic University. He later received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law School.[6]

He went on to become a successful American businessman, political adviser for the Democratic Party and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, serving from 2001 to 2005. He served as co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.[4]

Race background

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) was ineligible to run for re-election in 2013 because of term limits. The term limits Virginia imposes on its governors are more strict than any other state in the country. Under the commonwealth's constitution, no governor may serve back-to-back terms. This means that McDonnell, unlike other governors in their first term, was ineligible to run for re-election.

There are no such term limits on the attorney general, and many were surprised at fomer AG Ken Cuccinelli's (R) decision to run for governor, rather than seek another term. If not for Cuccinelli, outgoing Lieutenant GovernorBill Bolling would have been the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to succeed McDonnell.[9] Due to the decision by the Republican Party of Virginia to change their candidate nomination method from open primary election to closed nominating convention starting in 2013, and "tea party darling" Cuccinelli's presence in the race, Bolling withdrew his bid for the GOP nod in November 2012.[10][11] About the alternative of seeking re-election to his current post, Bolling stated that “Under normal circumstances, I would be open to the possibility of running for another term as lieutenant governor, but I would not be interested in running on a statewide ticket with Mr. Cuccinelli.”[12] He later said he regretted dropping out of the race as early as he did.[13]

McDonnell had previously pledged his support for Bolling's candidacy, in part because Bolling refrained from challenging McDonnell for governor in 2009. After Bolling bowed out, McDonnell chose to endorse fellow Republican Cuccinelli for his successor, despite Cuccinelli's outspoken opposition to McDonnell's Transportation Initiative, which was considered to be the centerpiece of his gubernatorial legacy. Ironically, Cuccinelli's future general election opponent, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, had been equally outspoken on the issue, but as an advocate and defender of the outgoing governor's approach to amending the state's transportation funding policy.[14][15][16]

In response to the major party picks, the Libertarian Party held a special convention and nominated Robert Sarvis as the party's official gubernatorial candidate.[17]

Like Cuccinelli and Sarvis, McAuliffe faced no primary opponent. Days from the election, McAuliffe held a comfortable polling and fundraising lead over Cuccinelli and Sarvis. Aggregated polling data had the Democratic nominee with an average edge of seven percentage points over Cuccinelli--an advantage that could have been attributed in large part to female voters' 58-34 preference of McAuliffe, since he and Cuccinelli were almost neck-and-neck among men.[18][19] During the last campaign finance reporting period, ending October 28, McAuliffe reported raising $8.1 million to Cuccinelli's $2.9 million, and holding $1.6 million in cash on hand, which was twice the size of Cuccinelli's warchest. Sarvis was trailing both with a reported $81,595 raised and $58,584 on hand.[20][21][22]Hillary Clinton's decision to come out in support of McAuliffe on October 19 - marking her first campaign event appearance since stepping down as U.S. Secretary of State - further enhanced the Democrat's frontrunner status.[23] Former President Bill Clinton threw in his support soon thereafter, followed by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, who joined the McAuliffe campaign effort in the final week of the election season.[24]

The three contenders squared off in the general election on November 5, 2013, which McAuliffe won by a margin of 2.6% percentage points.[25]

Impact of US government shutdown on governor's race

The high profile federal government shutdown coincided with the home stretch of the expensive and high-profile 2013 Virginia governor race, which created a fresh backdrop for the battle between major party nominees Terry McAuliffe (D) and Ken Cuccinelli (R), and provided a brand new context in which to undermine each candidate's character and leadership potential.[26] Each campaign released an ad during the aftermath of the shutdown, which arrived on the heels of the candidates' second debate.[27]

With the nation paying close attention to its government in light of the perceived failure of Congress to work together in the best interests of their constituents, McAuliffe and Cuccinelli's ads each highlighted features of his opponent which most closely mirrored the type of stubbornness displayed by the House and Senate leading up to the shutdown, and to which the general public was, at that moment, so sensitively attuned. That moment, to be more specific, was one month before the general election. As the competition stood, McAuliffe had an overall average lead in the polls of 5.3 points over his Republican foe.[28]

Hoping to use the shutdown to further advance his edge by painting Cuccinelli in with the GOP ideologues in Congress, McAuliffe's ad emphasized Cuccinelli's strong ties to tea party leader U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), since Cruz was an outspoken supporter both of Cuccinelli and the far-right congressional insurgency which, in seeking to defund Obamacare, was regarded as causing the shutdown. The ad cited Cuccinelli's past effort to defund Planned Parenthood, apparently bringing the Virginia legislature "to a standstill," and also claimed Cuccinelli had been sufficiently opposed to Mark Warner's 2004 budget to call for a shutdown of the state government.[29]

Cuccinelli's ad aimed to discredit McAuliffe by referencing articles from The Washington Post and the Richmond-Times Dispatch criticizing McAuliffe's prospective budget plan, which he had allegedly threatened he would shut down the government over in order to get the plan passed. The radio spot also accused McAuliffe of being "against compromise, against working together to find solutions,” and noted how the Democrat sided with his fellow party members in Congress who had vocally dismissed opportunities to collaborate with the Republicans to avert shutdown.[30][31]

A unique opportunity was identified for the solo third party candidate in the race, LibertarianRobert Sarvis, in the shutdown atmosphere, where disillusionment with the standard of government operation ran rampant. Had Sarvis not been barred from participating in the third debate with McAuliffe and Cuccinelli, it was thought that he could have used the reflected spotlight to lure substantial number of voters who, already frustrated by Congress' showcase of two-party gridlock, would be more sympathetic than usual to a non-major party nominee.

"People are looking for other options they don't like what they have to see from those two parties and we're trying to fill that void with principled advocacy for more freedom in our economic sphere and personal lives," stated Sarvis. His passive warning about "obvious dysfunction of our [federal] government" also existing on the state and local level could have had an especially profound impact on swing voters and the average 9% of voters who were still polling as undecided at the beginning of November.[32][33]

Controversies

On August 2, 2013, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) revealed government documents implicating McAuliffe in a possible investment fraud being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.). Grassley's findings that McAuliffe received special treatment from a high-ranking immigration official further entrenched the candidate in the controversy surrounding Greentech Automotive, a failed electric car company which he founded. Due to its poor performance and its employment of Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother, who handled the company's capital and is thus the target of the investigation, the now well-publicized environmental venture marks a blemish on the McAuliffe-campaign platform: to reinvigorate the state's economy using his business knowledge and experience as a successful job creator. Developments linking McAuliffe to the suspected fraud has made that blemish more pronounced, though polls continue to disprove initial theories that it would severely threaten his chances of overtaking Cuccinelli in the November general election. Cuccinelli had been the beleaguered candidate of the pair up until the Greentech S.E.C. investigation scandal broke and opened McAuliffe up for criticism regarding his history of "mingling politics and business."[34] Still, the latest polls indicate the Democrat has not lost his edge.

Issues

Campaign themes

"There are millions of cutting-edge energy jobs waiting to be created, and we need them here in Virginia."[3]

Education:

"Total funding per student is down even as we’ve got more and more students entering our system. Only 87% of our kids are graduating high school on time. As Governor, I will support our kids and our schools. We’re going to take the best ideas from around the country and give teachers and administrators the resources and freedom they need to make Virginia a global leader in education."[35]

Transportation:

"Virginia is a great place for business but one of the things holding us back from the top is an infrastructure system that can feel outdated and inefficient."

"By focusing on projects that best serve the economic travel needs of our citizens and businesses — along with key safety improvements — we will ensure that those rail, road, and bridge projects that absolutely must get done do get done. Second, we need to incentivize regional planning and implementation of smart growth planning."[36]

Healthcare:

"Expanding Medicaid will cover nearly 400,000 uninsured Virginians. Covering the uninsured will also help reduce health care costs for those with insurance already."[37]

Veterans' Health:

"For their physical health, veterans need better access to services and a state government willing to fight for them with the VA. As Governor I will do everything in my power to provide bridge healthcare services while veterans wait for VA care and I will push for reforms at the federal level to improve this system."[38]

Women:

"I strongly believe that women should be able to make their own healthcare decisions without interference from Washington or Richmond."[39]

Endorsements

McAuliffe's 2013 gubernatorial campaign has been endorsed by the following elected officials and organizations:[40][41]

Holton decided to endorse McAuliffe over his party's nominee, Ken Cuccinelli, because he said he believes McAuliffe "will put partisan politics aside and work every day to move Virginia forward."[44][45]

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.